Comic-Con Loses Hollywood Support

[Mortuorum]

No huge loss. Is the Con really enhanced by a huge Hollywood presence... or the scads of confused and slightly ebarrassed celebs that come with them?

 

[oldtaku]

Fine. SDCC is far too crowded enough already without the goddamn movie studios sprawling into more and more of the (fixed size) floor space.. And as much as I love video games, the video game companies can gtfo as well - demoing a new awful Spyro game is not something you need to be doing at a comic con.

 

[gphjr14]

That's what hollywood gets for giving Michael Cera work. The guy is like a young Canadian Nicholas Cage.

 

[viranimus]

So studios dont like the "comic-con effect?" as it has a negative impact on a film studios ability to generate hype for their films? Heres the solution. Stop making god awful films.

This brings up an interesting point. I think it should be mandatory. Honestly it should. If a film cannot even get past the core demographic it is trying to appeal to, then what chance does it have to hit a wide scale audience? It could force studios to actually make something worth watching instead of regurgitating anything they want and expecting the public to eat it up.

 

[RaikuFA]

So that means no more Twilight at the Comic Con? Thank you whichever god is responsible for this, now we must set up defenses to make sure they never come back.

I believe it was Orcus, one of the roman deities of the underworld

 

[Hungry Donner]

Rather than abandoning the con it would seem to me that they should change how they handle it. I've never been to Comic-Con myself but as a viewer on the sidelines I'd suggest that these studios put away the big flashy showcases unless they are being specifically tailored towards the audience. QA panels seem like a better bet, although you better make sure the people on the panel are well-prepared for what is to come.

 

[ethanizaak]

Comic fans wouldn't be so sour on comic book adaptations if the movies were faithful to the source material.

I agree, but it just isn't feasible to incorporate so many decades of history and continuity into a 2 hour film. Changes have to be made in order to create a narrative that (mostly) stands on its own. I suppose one could say there are good and bad ways to be unfaithful to the source material. I don't envy the people needing to make those changes, but sometimes it seems so obvious that the changes are for the worse. (Did Thor really need (admittedly attractive and usually watchable) Natalie Portman to act as love interest?)

 

[fundayz]

Key to the suddenly skittish studios' decision were the middling returns for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Though the $60 million film was a hit at Comic-Con, it only sold $32 million in tickets.


The key point for discussion that this studio exodus raises is that Hollywood may have finally realized that perhaps the whims of the geek masses dedicated enough to attend a comic book convention (or post on Internet forums, or mail tons of peanuts to executives [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=3214156&page=1]) may not directly correlate with the desires of the mainstream market.

Geeks may be an extremely vocal minority, it seems to suggest, but they are still a minority.

No sh*t. How anyone thought that Scott Pilgrim was actually going to be a mainstream hit is completely beyond me....

Anybody that is not a geek was simply not going to enjoy the movie, much less be drawn to see it. Not only that, but the movie itself wasn't that good: the humor was lacking, the plot itself was weak, and the pandering to geeks was way too obvious (OMG we have zelda sounds, our movie is great right?).

What do you expect? It's not really the fans' fault completely because a big studio wanting easy, safe money is taking something niche fans are passionate about and completely changing some things around or away from the source material.

I don't read comics, but I get where they're coming from

I would share your opinion if hardcore fans weren't such entitled, little cry babies.

Seriously, fans will complain about any little thing that is changed or taken out when it comes to adaptations of their comics/books/etc. I personally enjoy their tears and their precious "watered down" IP's.

 

[archabaddon]

Personally, thos sort of makes me happy. I've always felt that some things don't belong at Con. As much as I can see the appeal of USA Network shows, for example, I don't think they're relevant to a "comic" convention.

That being said:

Key to the suddenly skittish studios' decision were the middling returns for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. Though the $60 million film was a hit at Comic-Con, it only sold $32 million in tickets.

"Movie Bob Chipman" laments that this is the case and doesn't seem to understand why that was the case. But what he is certain about is that it's our fault.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/3281-The-Numbers

The key point for discussion that this studio exodus raises is that Hollywood may have finally realized that perhaps the whims of the geek masses dedicated enough to attend a comic book convention (or post on Internet forums, or mail tons of peanuts to executives [http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=3214156&page=1]) may not directly correlate with the desires of the mainstream market.

Geeks may be an extremely vocal minority, it seems to suggest, but they are still a minority.

And there in lay the problem Bob. You may be strongly motivated in your opinion, but what you can't seem to understand is that you are apparently in the minority and for all that is wrong with Hollywood, they seem to be coming to this realization as well.

I've been to Comic Con for a few years now, and I saw this coming from a mile away. The studio was spending way too much money promoting a movie that would never have enough appeal to the mainstream crowd.

Lamentably, films like Twilight do appeal more to the mainstream kiddies and hipsters, so rest assured that Summit will probably still be at the Con with their throngs of zombie fans D: Will we see a Real Housewives panel at con? If it's raking in enough greenbacks, you never know :/

Then...don't make movies that are pieces of shit?

Surely that would be a good place to start.

Fast Five might disagree with you. Mediocre movie, laughing all the way to the bank.
Tron Legacy: OK story, stunning visuals, fell far short of the projected mark.

 

[Alex Dzurik]

So Hollywood is terrified of showing crappy products to the people who demand good adaptions of the stuff they enjoy?

Basically they are slowly realizing they're intellectually bankrupt at this point and that will not be rewarded by people who care about the source material.

Therefore the easy solution is FLEE!

Lazy cowards.

 

[Alone Disciple]

Does this mean Comic-Con is actually going to be about comics again? Thank god.

No kidding. I used to go in the early part of the decade, and it was 'manageable'. The last time I went was 2007, and it was crazy overpacked. It wasn't even fun anymore, because the 'comics' aspected almost took a back seat to video games and Hollywood studios.

If Hollywood skips out, hopefully so will some of the media shows like 'Access Hollywood' and 'Entertainment Tonight' and the show will become accessible to the commonfolk again.

Nothing worse to drive to San Diego, fight hours of traffic to find a parking space, pay for the inlfating tickets, just to get inside and then fight like sardines to get anywhere.

 

[archabaddon]

And just to think that it was Hollywood that was ever-so-recently pushing so hard, trying to woo the convention to Anaheim or LA so it would be closer to them. Oh, how the winds of Hollywood can fickly change in such a short time.

 

[Drejer43]

Can we plz stop talking about scott pilgrim versus the world?
It hurts everytime I'm reminded of financial failure.

 

[Ickorus]

So movie makers are scared to show us their films because they are scared we will hate it and they wont be able to hype us out of our money? The real solution to this is to simply stop making crap movies.

That's the problem, the crap movies are what are making money because they have a wider audience.

Geek is still not mainstream.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Comic fans wouldn't be so sour on comic book adaptations if the movies were faithful to the source material.

Or if they just didn't suck so much, lol.

Well, it maybe a good thing. Maybe. Comic-Con is suppose to be about comics anyway, but this does make me worry why they aren't going to come to Comic-Con. Either they don't want to risk some obsessive Fan trolling the flim just cause, or they know its just not that good. Either or, it seems pretty cowardly, and may piss off fans anyway.

 

[Snowy Rainbow]

Comic fans wouldn't be so sour on comic book adaptations if the movies were faithful to the source material.

Or if they just didn't suck so much, lol.

Well, it maybe a good thing. Maybe. Comic-Con is suppose to be about comics anyway, but this does make me worry why they aren't going to come to Comic-Con. Either they don't want to risk some obsessive Fan trolling the flim just cause, or they know its just not that good. Either or, it seems pretty cowardly, and may piss off fans anyway.

No matter how you please us, we will never be satisfied! No matter what you do, we will dislike it!

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Then...don't make movies that are pieces of shit?

Surely that would be a good place to start.

The problem is crap painted gold sells really well to a less self-educated majority, or a blinded minority.

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Comic fans wouldn't be so sour on comic book adaptations if the movies were faithful to the source material.

Or if they just didn't suck so much, lol.

Well, it maybe a good thing. Maybe. Comic-Con is suppose to be about comics anyway, but this does make me worry why they aren't going to come to Comic-Con. Either they don't want to risk some obsessive Fan trolling the flim just cause, or they know its just not that good. Either or, it seems pretty cowardly, and may piss off fans anyway.

No matter how you please us, we will never be satisfied! No matter what you do, we will dislike it!

Not even if they were to give you all a....."Happy ending".

 

[Snowy Rainbow]

Comic fans wouldn't be so sour on comic book adaptations if the movies were faithful to the source material.

Or if they just didn't suck so much, lol.

Well, it maybe a good thing. Maybe. Comic-Con is suppose to be about comics anyway, but this does make me worry why they aren't going to come to Comic-Con. Either they don't want to risk some obsessive Fan trolling the flim just cause, or they know its just not that good. Either or, it seems pretty cowardly, and may piss off fans anyway.

No matter how you please us, we will never be satisfied! No matter what you do, we will dislike it!

Not even if they were to give you all a....."Happy ending".

Even then! They'd screw it up and do it all wrong somehow.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

I'm going to quote penny arcade here, specifically Gabe:

"Alright you dorks listen up. I know its hard for you right now. But I'm telling you: Outside these walls? WE RUN SHIT."

with that in mind, these companies need to realize that unless they stop pandering to everybody when they try to pander to just one group they will never succeed.

seriously if its geek source material, just make it for geeks for fucks sake, we will pay to see it over and over and over again and buy every bullshit "Directors cut" or "special edition" you put out! why is this shit so hard to comprehend?

and you can't make the money argument, like i just said we will pay for it, look at memorabilia on amazon or ebay for anime and comics and games, that shit is expensive as fuck and people buy it like it was the last day of the sale.

500 dollars for a 12" statue of a hot anime girl is retardedly expensive but people buy it!